Sarah Evans

Review of Advanced Wellness Centre

We bought a Groupon for the acupressure massage cl...

We bought a Groupon for the acupressure massage class and 30 minute couples massage.

We really enjoyed the acupressure massage class. Cherina is an excellent teacher and was very attentive to each couple. My only concern was my partner complained of tingling in his hands when being massaged. Cherina jumped to the conclusion, without any tests, that this was carpal tunnel. I felt this is a hefty and brave diagnosis to make for someone who isn't a medical practitioner. I am an optometrist and even with my medical experience I would never diagnose someone despite my thoughts. Instead I would explain they need further investigation and refer them to the appropriate specialist.

I did feel there was a sales push to return for a wellness assessment that was heavily discounted as an incentive. I am not exactly sure what we paid for in the wellness assessment and did not find it good value for money. The Chiropractor Dr Pfaff didn't mention a word to my partner about "Carpal Tunnel" on examination. For me, Cherina asked me to rank and list my top complaints I would like rectified. I also emphasized I didn't want to be treated by a chiropractor. Quickly realizing this was the only option after a heavy sales push, I agreed to meet with the chiropractor and be open-minded. Out of my top 3 complaints the only one Dr Pfaff seemed able to offer treatment for was my 3rd complaint which was the least of my concerns and worries by a long stretch. To add injury to insult (excuse the pun) after our assessments there was a huge push for us to sign up for treatment. Cherina even asked my partner to call his health insurance company to see if it was covered there and then and she tried to guilt trip me into taking care of my health. She knew at the time I was not working and that having treatment by a chiropractor for an issue that wasn't a huge concern to me was not a top priority.

We upgraded to a 60 minute couples massage. I presumed a couples massage would be done together in the same room but on booking the massages I learnt that the only day they have two massage therapists in together was a Wednesday evening or Saturday. This was very limiting as we wanted to enjoy the experience together at the same time. Additionally I was disappointed that the massages were not done by RMT's and that the massages lasted only 50 minutes each not 60. But the massage therapists did do a good job and were friendly, chatty and worked on areas we wanted.

All in all I would recommend the Massage class and advise keeping to a 30 minute massage rather than a 60 minute one. Avoid the Wellness Assesment as it is an expensive con.